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B.C.'S TRADE INFRASTRUCTURE
Climate change and supply chain resiliency guide key infrastructure investments
ROB FLEMING
The atmospheric river that devastated our highways last November was an eye-opening reminder of the critical importance our transportation networks play in our economy and in our daily lives. Our all-important supply chain – including major highways, railways and the ports – was significantly disrupted, leading to serious challenges for people and businesses across the province.
I can’t say enough about the highway crews and contractors who worked around the clock for weeks to restore access through extreme weather, even paving through winter conditions to reopen the Coquihalla.
But rebuilding our damaged roads and bridges back better is just one way we’re working to shore up our province’s supply chain.
To ensure our transportation networks remain strong, and our communities safe, it’s critical that climate resiliency be at the forefront of our decision-making process. It’s now a requirement for the ministry’s design engineers to consider how future changes to weather will affect highway infrastructure work. This approach means appropriate climate adaptation is considered over the entire design life of our infrastructure.
As part of our longer-term response, we know we must strengthen and maintain people’s access to goods to build a resilient economy. Through our StrongerBC Recovery Plan, we’ve been making investments to strengthen our supply chains in B.C. This includes expanding our manufacturing capacity to produce more goods, and strengthening manufacturing supply chains to help make the province more secure in the face of global supply interruptions.
Our recent $40 million investment to support improvements at the Port of Prince Rupert and Duke Point Terminal in Nanaimo is another example of the work we’re doing to increase capacity at our ports, and we continue to work collaboratively with the federal government to invest in strategies aimed at reducing bottlenecks at port facilities.
And as part of B.C.’s economic plan, we’re developing a goods movement strategy to provide leadership and achieve greater co-ordination and efficiency within the transportation trade network, strengthening our supply chains and supporting good value-added jobs.
Capital investments like the Kicking Horse Canyon project are making major transportation corridors like the Trans-Canada Highway safer and more reliable for decades to come. Projects like the Highway 91 upgrades and the Massey tunnel replacement will help people and goods move more efficiently and support economic growth. Major investments in the Broadway Subway, Surrey Langley Skytrain and rapid bus lines also support efficient commuting in our transportation networks.
Following the floods, a supply chain recovery working group involving both the provincial and federal governments was formed to ensure the efficient flow of goods throughout the province. The group works with stakeholders across the supply chain, including ports, airports, railways, terminal operators, the trucking industry and others.
This high degree of co-operation was critical to our recovery efforts and will be just as critical as we move forward during this era of climate change. We will continue to work with all levels of government and the private sector to build up our supply chains so they’re reliable, strong and more resilient.
Rob Fleming is the B.C. minister responsible for transportation and infrastructure.
